a quiver or arrow-case · noun, common feminine singular absolute
rattleth
תִּרְנֶ֣הtir.Neh
H7439
to whiz · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
glittering
לַ֖הַבLa.hav
H3851
a flash · noun, common masculine singular construct
spear
חֲנִ֣יתcha.Nit
H2595
a lance (for thrusting · noun, common feminine singular absolute
shield
וְכִידֽוֹןve.khi.Don
H3591
properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 41:26-29 The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 39:19-25
God, having displayed his own power in those creatures that are strong and despise man, here shows it in one scarcely inferior to any of them in strength, and yet very tame and serviceable to man, and that is the horse, especially the horse that is prepared against the day of battle and is serviceable to man at a time when he has more than ordinary occasion for his service. It seems, there was, in Job's country, a noble generous breed of horses. Job, it is probable, kept many, though they are not mentioned among his possessions, cattle for use in husbandry being there valued more than those for state and war, which alone horses were then reserved for, and they were not then put to such mean…
quiver--for the arrows, which they contain, and which are directed "against him."
glittering spear--literally, "glittering of the spear," like "lightning of the spear" (Hab 3:11).
shield--rather, "lance."
Adam Clarke on Job 39:21
He paweth in the valley - יחפרו yachperu, "they dig in the valley," i.e., in his violent galloping, in every pitch of his body, he scoops up sods out of the earth. Virgil has seized this idea also, in his cavat tellurem; "he scoops out the ground." See before.
John Gill on Job 39:23
The quiver rattleth against him,.... The quiver is what arrows are put into and carried in, and seems here to be put for arrows, which being shot by the enemy come whizzing about him, but do not intimidate him; unless this is to be understood of arrows rattling in the quiver when carried by the rider "upon him", so some render the last word; and thus Homer (w) and Virgil (x) speak of the rattling quiver and sounding arrows in it, as carried on the back or shoulder; but the first sense seems best, in which another poet uses it (y);
the glittering spear and the shield; the lance or javelin, as Mr. Broughton renders it, and others; that is, he does not turn back from these, nor is he frightene…
"On him the bow and the sword are in joy. His profession of faith announces the still invisible punishments of which God threatens the sinner from afar; it bears witness to the word that closely overturns all errors. There are, then, two very distinct ideas here: the threat which discovers in the future the punishment of the sinner is the line which the bow throws in the distance; the word that tames the passions of the moment is the sword with which one pushes away with one's hand. "Frightened at the sight of the spear and the javelin. How is it that, frightened by the spear and the javelin, the bow and the sword are in joy? Is it not because, if he does not tremble, if he does not fear the eternal death from which divine justice strikes, the martyr will not be able to face that of which he is threatened by the tyrant, nor to boldly confess his faith, nor to preach with confidence the truths that the enemies can not resist? It is thus that the word of God in him rejoices; he publishes it freely, and to announce to the ungodly the sad end with which they are threatened, and to condemn their present iniquities. If the joys of hope were not united in us with the fears of damnation, they would soon degenerate into a guilty security, into a reckless presumption, and we would not be told by the Psalmist, "Rejoice in him. with trembling (5). He is indignant with himself; he wants to destroy the ardor of concupiscence, and the fears of the flesh, which make us repel suffering and fighting. It is probably in this sense that it says, "Be angry and do not sin (1). It is with salutary indignation that he must condemn himself and say to himself: "Why are you sad, O my soul, and why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I want to praise him again; Then one must confess with one's mouth to obtain salvation (2). Then the Psalmist adds: "He is my Savior, he is my God." He remains motionless on hearing the signal of the trumpet. Before which temptation comes, even when it has been strengthened against the failings of nature. he waits, for it is not necessary to engage easily, unless the day of the trial has said so.
Over him will rattle the quiver, the spear will shake, and the shield. [MORAL INTERPRETATION] 81. For since he sees that the zeal of a holy mind helps others also against him, he labours to wound it with multiplied temptation. Whence it frequently happens, that they who rule over others under them, endure severer struggles with temptations; in order, that when the leader himself is put to flight, after the manner of bodily contests, the associated unanimity of the resisting host may be dispersed without an effort. Therefore the crafty enemy, devising divers wounds of blows against the heavenly soldier, wounds him at one time by stratagem, by an arrow from the quiver, at another brandishes a spear before his face; because, namely, he both conceals some vices under the guise of virtues, and presents others to his sight openly as they are. For where he perceives the soldier of God to be weakened, he there requires not the veil of deceit. But where he observes that he firmly opposes him, he there doubtless contrives stratagems against his strength. For when he sees any one weak in an allurement of the flesh, he openly sets before his sight the appearance of a body capable of being desired. But if perchance he sees that he is mighty against avarice, he importunately suggests to his thoughts the want of those of his family; in order that, while the mind is directed, with seeming piety, to the care of providing for them, it may be secretly seduced and hurried into sin by seeking after wealth. The arrow then insidiously assails the horse of God, when the crafty enemy conceals for him a vice beneath a virtue. But the spear wounds in close combat, when open wickedness tempts him, even aware of it. 82. But the heavenly soldier is often opposed by the enemy in both ways, at one and the same time; in order that he may be destroyed by some one blow. For the crafty adversary endeavours to strike at the same time, both raging openly, and lurking in ambush; in order that while the arrow is dreaded from a secret spot, the spear may be less feared before his face; or that, while he withstands the spear before his face, the arrow may not be observed when coming from a secret place. For he often puts forward the temptation of lust, and suddenly desisting, more craftily suggests pride at chastity having been preserved. And there are some, who when they observe that many have…
Dictionary and topics
Blade — Applied to the glittering point of a spear (Job 39:23) or sword (Nah. 3:3), the blade of a dagger (Judg. 3:22); the “shoulder blade” (Job 31:22); the “blade” of cereals (Matt. 13:26).
Horse — Always referred to in the Bible in connection with warlike operations, except Isa. 28:28. The war-horse is described Job 39:19-25. For a long period after their settlement in Canaan the Israelites…
Quiver — The sheath for arrows. The Hebrew word (aspah) thus commonly rendered is found in Job 39:23; Ps. 127:5; Isa. 22:6; 49:2; Jer. 5:16; Lam. 3:13. In Gen. 27:3 this word is the rendering of the Hebrew…
Target — (1 Sam. 17:6, A.V., after the LXX. and Vulg.), a kind of small shield. The margin has “gorget,” a piece of armour for the throat. The Revised Version more correctly renders the Hebrew word (kidon) by…
B · Unclean: Horse — Unclean: Horse
Horse · .Great strength — .Great strength
Spear · Called the glittering spear — Called the glittering spear
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 39:19-25
19 Dost thou give to the horse strength?
Dost thou clothe his neck with flowing hair?
20 Dost thou cause him to leap about like the grasshopper?
The noise of his snorting is a terror!
21 He paweth the ground in the plain, and boundeth about with strength.
He advanceth to meet an armed host.
22 He laugheth at fear, and is not affrighted,
And turneth not back from the sword.
23 The quiver rattleth over him,
The glittering lance and spear.
24 With fierceness and rage he swalloweth the ground,
And standeth not still, when the trumpet soundeth.
25 He saith at every blast of the trumpet: Ha, ha!
And from afar he scenteth the battle,
The thundering of the captains and the shout of war.
After the os…
passes (literally scorns) the swiftest horse with its rider: See 39:7, 22; 41:29.
Rashi on Job 39:23
The quiver...rattles [i.e., the quiver that is] full of arrows, and they knock against each other so that their sound is heard.
the blade of the spear An iron utensil (and an iron spear) is called לַהַב, as in (Jud. 3:22), “and the haft also went in after the blade (הלהב).”
Over him will rattle the quiver, the spear will shake, and the shield. 62. In Holy Scripture by the word 'quiver' is designated, sometimes the just and hidden counsel of God; but sometimes the clandestine machination of the wicked. By 'quiver' is expressed the just and hidden counsel of God, as this same blessed Job in a former part bears witness, saying, Because He hath opened His quiver, and afflicted me. [Job 30, 11] That is, He has disclosed His hidden counsel, and has wounded me with an open blow. For as arrows lie hid in the quiver, so do sentences lie hid in the secret counsel of God: and an arrow is drawn, as it were, from the quiver, when God launches forth an open sentence from His secret counsel. The machination of the wicked is also designated by the word 'quiver,' as is said by the Prophet, They have made their arrows in the quiver, that they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. For when the wicked conceal by secret machinations the schemes, which they plan against the good, they prepare, as it were, arrows in the quiver, and in this gloom of the present life, as if in darkness, they strike the upright in heart; because their malicious shafts can both be felt by their wound, and yet cannot be discovered as they are coming. Because therefore the horse of God is alarmed by no adversity, and the more he is opposed, the more ardently is he led against the armed enemies by the power of his intention; his persecutors, who perceive that they are defeated even when striking him, being confounded, have recourse to skill, prepare stratagems, and conceal, as it were, their wounds by launching them from a distance; whence it is now rightly said, Over him will rattle the quiver; that they may strike him from a distance, by secret machination, whom they approach in vain with open onset. This quiver had rattled over the horse of God, when forty men who had conspired for his death, were seeking for Paul to be brought out of prison; that they might kill him, with the blows of their designs, as though secretly, by the craft of arrows, whom they could not at all overcome by the attack of public persecution. The quiver therefore rattled; because the cause of secret machination came to Paul. 63. Although if we attentively enquire, we find a still deeper meaning in the sound of the quiver. For adversaries frequently enter into designs against the good,…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
